Playing is learning at nursery school

Aazhae Coleman is the director of the Nursery School of Christ Church.

For nearly 60 years, the Nursery School of Christ Church has been caring for children, from infants to 6 years old.

Started unofficially in 1967 as basically a baby-sitting service, according to its present director, Aazhae Coleman, the school has become a learning and socializing center for children from surrounding towns.

There are currently 27 children enrolled, down from a pre-pandemic enrollment of about 100. Coleman attributes the decline to the opening of Central School, which has its own pre-K programs, and parents continuing to work from home. None of the children currently at the Nursery School are more than 5 years old.

“When most people thought a mother’s place was in the home, Christ Church chose to be forward-looking, providing innovative half- and full-day nursery school programs,” said the Rev. Diana Wilcox, who leads the church. “Today, with more working mothers and growing concerns about child care, Christ Church is again providing a leading-edge solution.”

The Nursery School, she said, offers families a complete child care program for infants through kindergarten designed to meet their educational, emotional and spiritual needs in a safe environment.

“Our school is a ministry of our parish, and so we strive to keep our tuition low, even offering need-based scholarships as we are able,” Wilcox said. “We offer a place where all children are welcomed, affirmed and provided a safe and joyful educational experience. While we are not a religious school, we do offer opportunities, with parent permission, for children to learn about Christmas, Ash Wednesday and other aspects of our faith.”

There are four rooms in the Nursery School: an infants’ room and a toddlers’ room, both with three teachers; and preschool rooms No. 1 and No. 2, both with two teachers. In the darkened infants’ room when The Glen Ridge Paper visited, all the children were asleep. There are currently eight infants in the Nursery School. Tummy time and crawling are important here. A child will progress to the toddlers’ room when they can stand. Work on speech progression will begin in the toddlers’ room.

“There’s a lot of singing in the toddlers’ room,” Coleman said. “A lot of music is being played. You’ll see a child playing and just randomly start singing, ‘row, row, row your boat.’ When you think about it, when children cry and scream, they are making sounds. In the toddler room, they know they have these sounds and want to communicate.”

She said there was a toddler who loved fire trucks. When a teacher asked him what sound a fire truck makes, he went “weee-oooh, weee-oooh.”

“So we knew he understood and was trying to communicate,” Coleman said.

Toddlers playing with each other will find subtle ways to communicate, too, she said. If a child is upset, another child will bring their own favorite toy to them.
In preschool No. 1, the children are introduced to core literacy skills, numbers and are potty trained. When fully potty trained — it takes four to six weeks — the child has their picture taken and placed on a bulletin board with colored-paper cutouts of rocket ships.

“It’s an exciting moment,” Coleman said. “They put their picture on a rocket and get a certificate.”

The idea for the bulletin board came from Kathy Campione, who has worked at the Nursery School for 22 years. Campione said parents call her “the potty whisperer.”

“It’s a rumor,” she said. “I don’t know why. I’m proud of it. It’s work.”

The bulk of lesson-based education begins in preschool No. 2.

“It’s not that they don’t play,” Coleman said, “but their play is based on what they’re learning. For example, if they’re learning about transportation, they play with toy cars. If they’re learning about community helpers, we have figures that represent firemen and mailmen.”

Continuing with letters and numbers, the children are introduced to science, for instance, by learning about plants, animals that hibernate and which are nighttime or daytime creatures.

Coleman said parents are amazed how much their children learn, but children are natural sponges for information.

“By the time they leave, they all know upper and lower case letters, how to print their name, shapes, colors, numbers 1-10 and the sounds of letters,” she said. “It’s a good connection to a love of learning. A strong communication between parents and teachers is important to develop methods of teaching the children, too.”

Wilcox said that, prior to the pandemic, the Nursery School had children whose parents were children themselves in the Nursery School. Many of the teachers have more than 20 years experience at the school.

“In addition to the regular nursery school program, extended child care is offered from 7:30 a.m. until 6 p.m., Monday through

Friday, throughout the year, including during school breaks,” Wilcox said.